At a House of Representatives committee investigation on the PHP 3.5 BILLION dengue vaccine SCAM, a Sanofi official who was in the December 2015 meeting with former President Aquino in Paris, France, stated that the dengue vaccine was in the agenda. Aquino Secretary of Health Garin previously stated that she was not in the meeting. Upon being shown photos of her with P-Noy and the Sanofi officials, she reversed herself but then said that Dengvaxia was NOT among the topics talked about. This latest revelation in the Lower House puts another BLACK EYE in the testimony of Garin, who has been caught time and again as being CONSISTENTLY EVASIVE and LYING THROUGH HER TEETH.

The Philippine ambassador to France also issued a memorandum on the discussion with President Aquino speaking about Dengvaxia.

In an EVASIVE and CONVOLUTED manner, Aquino Administration Department of Health Secretary Garin FINALLY ADMITTED meeting with officials of vaccine maker Sanofi in Paris with President Aquino in December 2015. She also said that negotiations for the controversial Dengue vaccine was initiated by her predecessor Dr. Enrique Ona. She claimed that she too was surprised that Sanofi issued a negative memorandum about the Sanofi product. Initial studies indicate that the vaccine may be ineffective and could, in fact, cause a MORE SEVERE manifestation of the disease in comparison to dengue patients that have not previously been vaccinated. Dengue is a major killer in the Philippines which means that 700,000 vaccinated school children will be at a greater risk of serious infection which could result in DEATH.

It was former President Benigno Aquino 3rd who ordered his Health Secretary then, Jannete Garin, to purchase P3.5 billion worth of the French firm Sanofi Pasteur’s controversial anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, sources in the government disclosed. He also ordered his Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to look for, and release, the P3.5 billion funding for it, as the health department didn’t have such allocation in its 2016 budget.

Garin herself had hesitated to order the vaccines in 2015 because it still didn’t have clearances from reputable medical bodies, including the World Health Organization. Even her officials very strongly advised her against it.

The Philippines is the only country to undertake a mass immunization program using the Dengvaxia vaccine – involving 700,000 grade-four students during the last three months of the Aquino regime, with a total of 1 million planned. Although Mexican and Brazilian authorities have licensed the sale of the vaccine, they haven’t launched such mass, effectively compulsory, vaccination using the Dengvaxia vaccine.

President Duterte’s then Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial put the Dengvaxia program on hold in July, on grounds that it had not been proven safe yet.

The company itself, though, issued a warning on its own vaccine Nov. 29, reporting that it found out that if Dengvaxia “is given to individuals who haven’t been exposed to dengue, they could get more serious infections when they encounter the virus naturally.”

That means that if a child had never been exposed to, or sick with, dengue but he was inoculated with the Dengvaxia, and he then contracts the mosquito-borne illness, he would be worse off, and could even face death. Most of the 700,000 children inoculated with Dengvaxia had never had dengue. Some 700,000 Filipino children, therefore, now have the potentially deadly serum in their blood. Already, four children who had been inoculated with Dengvaxia and who caught dengue had reportedly died.

Even before it’s alarming findings, Sanofi had recommended the vaccine to be used only in populations among whom at least 50 percent have contracted the dengue disease. Dengue has been prevalent only in a few areas in the country, with total incidence of only 0.01 percent of the total Philippine population.

WHO report

The World Health Organization, the UN authority on the safety of drugs, had not approved the vaccine. It finally reported in July 2016 that countries should consider the introduction of the dengue vaccine “only in geographic settings (national or subnational) where epidemiological data indicate a high burden of the disease.”

“There’s no way for Garin to get Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to release government funds to P3.5 billion in a month’s time to buy a single type of vaccine, one that was not approved by reputable local and international bodies, and bought from one company,” a government source said. The health departments’total budget annually for all vaccines it buys is about P3 billion, he pointed out. The source quipped: “How much is 10 percent of P3.5 billion?”

Aquino’s P3.5 billion ($70 million) purchase of Sanofi’s Dengvaxia – P3,000 for the three-doses required for each recipient – was a life-saver of sorts for the French firm. It spent $1.5 billion in 20 years to develop the vaccine, but had sold only $21 million, with the Philippines’ $70 million purchase giving it a financial boost, as well as the worldwide advertisement for it. Sanofi was racing against time, given that at least four other anti-dengue vaccines are being developed by competitors.

Aquino’s order to buy the Dengvaxia vaccines was given right after his December 1, 2015 meeting with top Sanofi officials, who included its CEO Olivier Charmeil in Paris, during a three-day visit there to attend the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference.

“I want this fast-tracked please,” Aquino reportedly told Garin as he stared intently at her, in hearing distance of Cabinet members who accompanied him and of the Sanofi officials, referring to the French firm’s lobbying for the purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccines. With Aquino in that meeting, aside from Garin, were finance secretary Cesar Purisima, Trade and Industry Gregory Domingo, Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya, and officials of the Philippine embassy in Paris.

A press release by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on that meeting reported: “Aquino had a business meeting on Tuesday with officials of Sanofi Pasteur for the introduction of a dengue vaccine in the Philippines as the French pharmaceutical company moves toward completing the clinical trials for the vaccine….”

Malacañang for Sanofi

The Malacañang statement was practically a press release for Sanofi’s product, gushing: “The vaccine had completed phase 3 (advanced, pre-product launch) clinical studies in 2014” and that it passed research phases in the Philippines, reflecting high levels of research competence and capability.” As it turned out, though, the World Health Organization had not cleared the vaccine, and clinical trials were still ongoing at that time.

Strangely, when Congress started investigating the controversy, Garin in effect claimed that Aquino’s information officials were lying: “It was not a meeting between Sanofi and President Aquino (but) the usual time where [sic]the president will allow himself to face the business community. The dengue vaccine issue was not discussed.”

Aquino had demonstrated extraordinary interest in the health department’s purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccine: It was the second time he met with the Sanofi officials.

He found time during the hectic APEC meeting in Beijing, China to meet with Sanofi officials, headed by the firm’s senior vice president for Asia Jean-luc Lowinski on Nov 9, 2014. The Sanofi officials were the only businessmen Aquino met with in Beijing. A press release by the Presidential Broadcast Staff reported at that time that Aquino discussed “Sanofi’s progress in developing a dengue vaccine for affected towns in the Philippines.”

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee, when he was investigating the controversy last year pointed out the suspicious Dengvaxia purchase: “December 2, there was a meeting in Paris (between Aquino and the Sanofi executives); by December 22, the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine; by December 29, the Special Allotment Release Order for P3.5 billion was issued.” Talk of a midnight deal.

Gordon added: “The vaccine purchase was never budgeted by the health department in 2014, 2015, 2016 and also in 2017. They only requested it in November of 2015. The budget department found the money by declaring ‘savings’ from personnel salaries.”

This dengue vaccine corruption is of that sickening Yellow template: A noble cause is used to conceal graft of mammoth proportions. This case, though, could be the worst, as it has put the lives of our 700,000 mostly poor children on the line.

MANILA, Philippines — Health advocates and experts had cautioned former Health Secretary Janette Garin over the safety of Dengvaxia but their warnings were ignored, a health reform advocate said Tuesday.

Dr. Anthony Leachon, former member of the Department of Health Expert Panel on Dengue, said that experts questioned the “premature” mass vaccination in 2016, citing that its safety and cost-effectiveness had not been established.

Leachon, in an interview on ANC, said that the introduction of the dengue vaccine should have been done on a controlled scale.

“When you launch a product, it will be exposed to about 10,000 to 20,000 kids and doctors will supervise so they can report side effects,” he said, noting it usually takes three years to prepare a community for a new vaccine.

“[But they proceeded with] mass vaccination. Safety issues were alerted by health advocates and scientists in the country but you ignored that,” Leachon said.

DOH suspended the mass immunization program on December 1, shortly after manufacturer Sanofi Pasteur disclosed it had found in post-trial tests that the vaccine poses a threat to those who had no prior dengue infection.

More than 860,000 people have been vaccinated with Dengvaxia. Over 830,000 children were vaccinated with Dengvaxia in schools and communities, while another 32,000 people were immunized in private hospitals.

Overpriced vaccines?

Leachon said that Dr. Hilton Lam of the Formulary Executive Council conducted a cost-effectiveness study of the vaccine and found that it should be P655 per dose. The government sold it at P1,000 per dose.

“We thought it was bloated a little bit because the study did not consider potential side effects of the drug,” Leachon said.

He added that Dengvaxia is more expensive in the Philippines than in other countries.

During the Senate probe into the questionable purchase of the P3.5 billion worth of vaccines, Garin said that the country purchased the vaccine at a lower price ($20 per dose) than Brazil ($30 per dose).

Leachon, moreover, said that Garin and former president Benigno Aquino III should be held accountable.

“Any problem of this magnitude stops at the highest point of leadership at the Department of Health. Now of this particular magnitude where 800,000 kids [are affected], then the buck stops at the level of the office of the president,” he said.

Garin insisted that there was no corruption involved in the purchase of the dengue vaccines and that it was not hastily implemented.

“It’s not a midnight deal. Everything was above board,” she said.

She added that the decision to procure Dengvaxia was not a personal decision, but an “institutional decision.”

“We decided based on the data available at the time with the desire to fight dengue,” Garin said.

At the Senate investigation on the PHP 3.5 Billion Sanofi Dengue Vaccine SCAM, it was established that the experimental vaccine had not yet completed the Phase 4 stage (controlled launch or scaled down implementation) usually in the ten to twenty thousand beneficiary level and needing one to two years to complete so as to monitor possible ADVERSE EFFECTS or REACTIONS. Instead the roll out was made to more than 700,000 grade four students (out of a planned one million ten year olds).

Former Secretary of Health Ubial, who stopped the program stated that it is bad practice to do a massive public mobilization and vaccination using a new product in an election year. Health experts were unanimous that there was a RUSH to PURCHASE, specifically prodded by then President Aquino and then Health Secretary Garin. P-Noy met with Sanofi officials (for the second time) in December 2015 and it was also in the same month that the Food and Drug Administration (under the Department of Health) approved Sanofi’s Dengvaxia. President Aquino issued a memorandum order to the DBM to use personnel savings (from the Philippine budget) to fund the vaccine purchase. By the end of the month the Department of Budget Management (DBM under then Secretary Abad) had issued a S.A.R.O. (special allotment release order).

Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Chair Senator Richard Gordon will look into the possible VIOLATION by President Aquino in the use of a S.A.R.O. to secure funding when a supplemental budget (though the House of Representatives and the Senate) route should have been the way to go.

Senator Gordon also cited a number of resolved cases where Sanofi officials were found guilty of BRIBERY in Germany and fined FORTY MILLION U. S. dollars. In the United States, Sanofi officials were fined ONE HUNDRED NINE MILLION U.S. dollars also for BRIBERY.

The current stage of the Senate investigation is focused on the SAFETY issues of the Sanofi Dengue vaccine. The next stage would tackle the financial aspects of the deal, specifically the bidding process (when the Formulary had not yet issued a certification), the HIGH COST of the product, the use of a single supplier, conflict of interest (in the FDA, FEC and the DOH where members used to work for international pharmaceutical firms) plus the issue on whether baseline serological tests should have been done prior to administering the vaccine (which was scrapped due to high costs). Next Committee meeting will look into the LEGAL ASPECTS of ACCOUNTABILITY (on whether the vaccination program was pushed through for propaganda purposes (for the 2016 national elections) and/or to generate FINANCIAL RESOURCES for election purposes or personal gain. Ex President Aquino was SPECIFICALLY named.

Senator Gordon mentioned that a witness branded the vaccination program as a BETRAYAL of the Filipino people, with kids being used as GUINEA PIGS or LABORATORY RATS.

#DengueVaccine #Dengvaxia #PresidentAquino #DepartmentOfHealth

]]>https://balitangbalita.com/2017/12/12/red-flags-on-dengvaxia-ignored-health-reform-advocate-says/feed/0pinoynews4dengue Pnoy sanfi beijingSanofi Dengue Vaccine PHP 3.5 Billion SCAM: Ex-President Aquino and former DOH Secretary Garin LIABLEhttps://balitangbalita.com/2017/12/11/sanofi-dengue-vaccine-php-3-5-billion-scam-ex-president-aquino-and-former-doh-secretary-garin-liable/
https://balitangbalita.com/2017/12/11/sanofi-dengue-vaccine-php-3-5-billion-scam-ex-president-aquino-and-former-doh-secretary-garin-liable/#respondMon, 11 Dec 2017 08:01:26 +0000http://balitangbalita.com/?p=8345]]>At the Senate investigation on the PHP 3.5 Billion Sanofi Dengue Vaccine SCAM, it was established that the experimental vaccine had not yet completed the Phase 4 stage (controlled launch or scaled down implementation) usually in the ten to twenty thousand beneficiary level and needing one to two years to complete so as to monitor possible ADVERSE EFFECTS or REACTIONS. Instead the roll out was made to more than 700,000 grade four students (out of a planned one million ten year olds).

Former Secretary of Health Ubial, who stopped the program stated that it is bad practice to do a massive public mobilization and vaccination using a new product in an election year. Health experts were unanimous that there was a RUSH to PURCHASE, specifically prodded by then President Aquino and then Health Secretary Garin. P-Noy met with Sanofi officials (for the second time) in December 2015 and it was also in the same month that the Food and Drug Administration (under the Department of Health) approved Sanofi’s Dengvaxia. President Aquino issued a memorandum order to the DBM to use personnel savings (from the Philippine budget) to fund the vaccine purchase. By the end of the month the Department of Budget Management (DBM under then Secretary Abad) had issued a S.A.R.O. (special allotment release order).

Senate Blue Ribbon Committee Chair Senator Richard Gordon will look into the possible VIOLATION by President Aquino in the use of a S.A.R.O. to secure funding when a supplemental budget (though the House of Representatives and the Senate) route should have been the way to go.

Senator Gordon also cited a number of resolved cases where Sanofi officials were found guilty of BRIBERY in Germany and fined FORTY MILLION U. S. dollars. In the United States, Sanofi officials were fined ONE HUNDRED NINE MILLION U.S. dollars also for BRIBERY.

The current stage of the Senate investigation is focused on the SAFETY issues of the Sanofi Dengue vaccine. The next stage would tackle the financial aspects of the deal, specifically the bidding process (when the Formulary had not yet issued a certification), the HIGH COST of the product, the use of a single supplier, conflict of interest (in the FDA, FEC and the DOH where members used to work for international pharmaceutical firms) plus the issue on whether baseline serological tests should have been done prior to administering the vaccine (which was scrapped due to high costs). Next Committee meeting will look into the LEGAL ASPECTS of ACCOUNTABILITY (on whether the vaccination program was pushed through for propaganda purposes (for the 2016 national elections) and/or to generate FINANCIAL RESOURCES for election purposes or personal gain. Ex President Aquino was SPECIFICALLY named.

Senator Gordon mentioned that a witness branded the vaccination program as a BETRAYAL of the Filipino people, with kids being used as GUINEA PIGS or LABORATORY RATS.

In an EVASIVE and CONVOLUTED manner, Aquino Administration Department of Health Secretary Garin FINALLY ADMITTED meeting with officials of vaccine maker Sanofi in Paris with President Aquino in December 2015. She also said that negotiations for the controversial Dengue vaccine was initiated by her predecessor Dr. Enrique Ona. She claimed that she too was surprised that Sanofi issued a negative memorandum about the Sanofi product. Initial studies indicate that the vaccine may be ineffective and could, in fact, cause a MORE SEVERE manifestation of the disease in comparison to dengue patients that have not previously been vaccinated. Dengue is a major killer in the Philippines which means that 700,000 vaccinated school children will be at a greater risk of serious infection which could result in DEATH.

It was former President Benigno Aquino 3rd who ordered his Health Secretary then, Jannete Garin, to purchase P3.5 billion worth of the French firm Sanofi Pasteur’s controversial anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, sources in the government disclosed. He also ordered his Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to look for, and release, the P3.5 billion funding for it, as the health department didn’t have such allocation in its 2016 budget.

Garin herself had hesitated to order the vaccines in 2015 because it still didn’t have clearances from reputable medical bodies, including the World Health Organization. Even her officials very strongly advised her against it.

The Philippines is the only country to undertake a mass immunization program using the Dengvaxia vaccine – involving 700,000 grade-four students during the last three months of the Aquino regime, with a total of 1 million planned. Although Mexican and Brazilian authorities have licensed the sale of the vaccine, they haven’t launched such mass, effectively compulsory, vaccination using the Dengvaxia vaccine.

President Duterte’s then Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial put the Dengvaxia program on hold in July, on grounds that it had not been proven safe yet.

The company itself, though, issued a warning on its own vaccine Nov. 29, reporting that it found out that if Dengvaxia “is given to individuals who haven’t been exposed to dengue, they could get more serious infections when they encounter the virus naturally.”

That means that if a child had never been exposed to, or sick with, dengue but he was inoculated with the Dengvaxia, and he then contracts the mosquito-borne illness, he would be worse off, and could even face death. Most of the 700,000 children inoculated with Dengvaxia had never had dengue. Some 700,000 Filipino children, therefore, now have the potentially deadly serum in their blood. Already, four children who had been inoculated with Dengvaxia and who caught dengue had reportedly died.

Even before it’s alarming findings, Sanofi had recommended the vaccine to be used only in populations among whom at least 50 percent have contracted the dengue disease. Dengue has been prevalent only in a few areas in the country, with total incidence of only 0.01 percent of the total Philippine population.

WHO report

The World Health Organization, the UN authority on the safety of drugs, had not approved the vaccine. It finally reported in July 2016 that countries should consider the introduction of the dengue vaccine “only in geographic settings (national or subnational) where epidemiological data indicate a high burden of the disease.”

“There’s no way for Garin to get Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to release government funds to P3.5 billion in a month’s time to buy a single type of vaccine, one that was not approved by reputable local and international bodies, and bought from one company,” a government source said. The health departments’total budget annually for all vaccines it buys is about P3 billion, he pointed out. The source quipped: “How much is 10 percent of P3.5 billion?”

Aquino’s P3.5 billion ($70 million) purchase of Sanofi’s Dengvaxia – P3,000 for the three-doses required for each recipient – was a life-saver of sorts for the French firm. It spent $1.5 billion in 20 years to develop the vaccine, but had sold only $21 million, with the Philippines’ $70 million purchase giving it a financial boost, as well as the worldwide advertisement for it. Sanofi was racing against time, given that at least four other anti-dengue vaccines are being developed by competitors.

Aquino’s order to buy the Dengvaxia vaccines was given right after his December 1, 2015 meeting with top Sanofi officials, who included its CEO Olivier Charmeil in Paris, during a three-day visit there to attend the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference.

“I want this fast-tracked please,” Aquino reportedly told Garin as he stared intently at her, in hearing distance of Cabinet members who accompanied him and of the Sanofi officials, referring to the French firm’s lobbying for the purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccines. With Aquino in that meeting, aside from Garin, were finance secretary Cesar Purisima, Trade and Industry Gregory Domingo, Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya, and officials of the Philippine embassy in Paris.

A press release by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on that meeting reported: “Aquino had a business meeting on Tuesday with officials of Sanofi Pasteur for the introduction of a dengue vaccine in the Philippines as the French pharmaceutical company moves toward completing the clinical trials for the vaccine….”

Malacañang for Sanofi

The Malacañang statement was practically a press release for Sanofi’s product, gushing: “The vaccine had completed phase 3 (advanced, pre-product launch) clinical studies in 2014” and that it passed research phases in the Philippines, reflecting high levels of research competence and capability.” As it turned out, though, the World Health Organization had not cleared the vaccine, and clinical trials were still ongoing at that time.

Strangely, when Congress started investigating the controversy, Garin in effect claimed that Aquino’s information officials were lying: “It was not a meeting between Sanofi and President Aquino (but) the usual time where [sic]the president will allow himself to face the business community. The dengue vaccine issue was not discussed.”

Aquino had demonstrated extraordinary interest in the health department’s purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccine: It was the second time he met with the Sanofi officials.

He found time during the hectic APEC meeting in Beijing, China to meet with Sanofi officials, headed by the firm’s senior vice president for Asia Jean-luc Lowinski on Nov 9, 2014. The Sanofi officials were the only businessmen Aquino met with in Beijing. A press release by the Presidential Broadcast Staff reported at that time that Aquino discussed “Sanofi’s progress in developing a dengue vaccine for affected towns in the Philippines.”

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee, when he was investigating the controversy last year pointed out the suspicious Dengvaxia purchase: “December 2, there was a meeting in Paris (between Aquino and the Sanofi executives); by December 22, the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine; by December 29, the Special Allotment Release Order for P3.5 billion was issued.” Talk of a midnight deal.

Gordon added: “The vaccine purchase was never budgeted by the health department in 2014, 2015, 2016 and also in 2017. They only requested it in November of 2015. The budget department found the money by declaring ‘savings’ from personnel salaries.”

This dengue vaccine corruption is of that sickening Yellow template: A noble cause is used to conceal graft of mammoth proportions. This case, though, could be the worst, as it has put the lives of our 700,000 mostly poor children on the line.

It was former President Benigno Aquino 3rd who ordered his Health Secretary then, Jannete Garin, to purchase P3.5 billion worth of the French firm Sanofi Pasteur’s controversial anti-dengue vaccine Dengvaxia, sources in the government disclosed. He also ordered his Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to look for, and release, the P3.5 billion funding for it, as the health department didn’t have such allocation in its 2016 budget.

Garin herself had hesitated to order the vaccines in 2015 because it still didn’t have clearances from reputable medical bodies, including the World Health Organization. Even her officials very strongly advised her against it.

The Philippines is the only country to undertake a mass immunization program using the Dengvaxia vaccine – involving 700,000 grade-four students during the last three months of the Aquino regime, with a total of 1 million planned. Although Mexican and Brazilian authorities have licensed the sale of the vaccine, they haven’t launched such mass, effectively compulsory, vaccination using the Dengvaxia vaccine.

President Duterte’s then Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial put the Dengvaxia program on hold in July, on grounds that it had not been proven safe yet.

The company itself, though, issued a warning on its own vaccine Nov. 29, reporting that it found out that if Dengvaxia “is given to individuals who haven’t been exposed to dengue, they could get more serious infections when they encounter the virus naturally.”

That means that if a child had never been exposed to, or sick with, dengue but he was inoculated with the Dengvaxia, and he then contracts the mosquito-borne illness, he would be worse off, and could even face death. Most of the 700,000 children inoculated with Dengvaxia had never had dengue. Some 700,000 Filipino children, therefore, now have the potentially deadly serum in their blood. Already, four children who had been inoculated with Dengvaxia and who caught dengue had reportedly died.

Even before it’s alarming findings, Sanofi had recommended the vaccine to be used only in populations among whom at least 50 percent have contracted the dengue disease. Dengue has been prevalent only in a few areas in the country, with total incidence of only 0.01 percent of the total Philippine population.

WHO report

The World Health Organization, the UN authority on the safety of drugs, had not approved the vaccine. It finally reported in July 2016 that countries should consider the introduction of the dengue vaccine “only in geographic settings (national or subnational) where epidemiological data indicate a high burden of the disease.”

“There’s no way for Garin to get Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to release government funds to P3.5 billion in a month’s time to buy a single type of vaccine, one that was not approved by reputable local and international bodies, and bought from one company,” a government source said. The health departments’total budget annually for all vaccines it buys is about P3 billion, he pointed out. The source quipped: “How much is 10 percent of P3.5 billion?”

Aquino’s P3.5 billion ($70 million) purchase of Sanofi’s Dengvaxia – P3,000 for the three-doses required for each recipient – was a life-saver of sorts for the French firm. It spent $1.5 billion in 20 years to develop the vaccine, but had sold only $21 million, with the Philippines’ $70 million purchase giving it a financial boost, as well as the worldwide advertisement for it. Sanofi was racing against time, given that at least four other anti-dengue vaccines are being developed by competitors.

Aquino’s order to buy the Dengvaxia vaccines was given right after his December 1, 2015 meeting with top Sanofi officials, who included its CEO Olivier Charmeil in Paris, during a three-day visit there to attend the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference.

“I want this fast-tracked please,” Aquino reportedly told Garin as he stared intently at her, in hearing distance of Cabinet members who accompanied him and of the Sanofi officials, referring to the French firm’s lobbying for the purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccines. With Aquino in that meeting, aside from Garin, were finance secretary Cesar Purisima, Trade and Industry Gregory Domingo, Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya, and officials of the Philippine embassy in Paris.

A press release by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on that meeting reported: “Aquino had a business meeting on Tuesday with officials of Sanofi Pasteur for the introduction of a dengue vaccine in the Philippines as the French pharmaceutical company moves toward completing the clinical trials for the vaccine….”

Malacañang for Sanofi

The Malacañang statement was practically a press release for Sanofi’s product, gushing: “The vaccine had completed phase 3 (advanced, pre-product launch) clinical studies in 2014” and that it passed research phases in the Philippines, reflecting high levels of research competence and capability.” As it turned out, though, the World Health Organization had not cleared the vaccine, and clinical trials were still ongoing at that time.

Strangely, when Congress started investigating the controversy, Garin in effect claimed that Aquino’s information officials were lying: “It was not a meeting between Sanofi and President Aquino (but) the usual time where [sic]the president will allow himself to face the business community. The dengue vaccine issue was not discussed.”

Aquino had demonstrated extraordinary interest in the health department’s purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccine: It was the second time he met with the Sanofi officials.

He found time during the hectic APEC meeting in Beijing, China to meet with Sanofi officials, headed by the firm’s senior vice president for Asia Jean-luc Lowinski on Nov 9, 2014. The Sanofi officials were the only businessmen Aquino met with in Beijing. A press release by the Presidential Broadcast Staff reported at that time that Aquino discussed “Sanofi’s progress in developing a dengue vaccine for affected towns in the Philippines.”

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee, when he was investigating the controversy last year pointed out the suspicious Dengvaxia purchase: “December 2, there was a meeting in Paris (between Aquino and the Sanofi executives); by December 22, the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine; by December 29, the Special Allotment Release Order for P3.5 billion was issued.” Talk of a midnight deal.

Gordon added: “The vaccine purchase was never budgeted by the health department in 2014, 2015, 2016 and also in 2017. They only requested it in November of 2015. The budget department found the money by declaring ‘savings’ from personnel salaries.”

This dengue vaccine corruption is of that sickening Yellow template: A noble cause is used to conceal graft of mammoth proportions. This case, though, could be the worst, as it has put the lives of our 700,000 mostly poor children on the line.

Garin herself had hesitated to order the vaccines in 2015 because it still didn’t have clearances from reputable medical bodies, including the World Health Organization. Even her officials very strongly advised her against it.

The Philippines is the only country to undertake a mass immunization program using the Dengvaxia vaccine – involving 700,000 grade-four students during the last three months of the Aquino regime, with a total of 1 million planned. Although Mexican and Brazilian authorities have licensed the sale of the vaccine, they haven’t launched such mass, effectively compulsory, vaccination using the Dengvaxia vaccine.

President Duterte’s then Health Secretary Paulyn Ubial put the Dengvaxia program on hold in July, on grounds that it had not been proven safe yet.

The company itself, though, issued a warning on its own vaccine Nov. 29, reporting that it found out that if Dengvaxia “is given to individuals who haven’t been exposed to dengue, they could get more serious infections when they encounter the virus naturally.”

That means that if a child had never been exposed to, or sick with, dengue but he was inoculated with the Dengvaxia, and he then contracts the mosquito-borne illness, he would be worse off, and could even face death. Most of the 700,000 children inoculated with Dengvaxia had never had dengue. Some 700,000 Filipino children, therefore, now have the potentially deadly serum in their blood. Already, four children who had been inoculated with Dengvaxia and who caught dengue had reportedly died.

Even before it’s alarming findings, Sanofi had recommended the vaccine to be used only in populations among whom at least 50 percent have contracted the dengue disease. Dengue has been prevalent only in a few areas in the country, with total incidence of only 0.01 percent of the total Philippine population.

WHO report

The World Health Organization, the UN authority on the safety of drugs, had not approved the vaccine. It finally reported in July 2016 that countries should consider the introduction of the dengue vaccine “only in geographic settings (national or subnational) where epidemiological data indicate a high burden of the disease.”

“There’s no way for Garin to get Budget Secretary Florencio Abad to release government funds to P3.5 billion in a month’s time to buy a single type of vaccine, one that was not approved by reputable local and international bodies, and bought from one company,” a government source said. The health departments’total budget annually for all vaccines it buys is about P3 billion, he pointed out. The source quipped: “How much is 10 percent of P3.5 billion?”

Aquino’s P3.5 billion ($70 million) purchase of Sanofi’s Dengvaxia – P3,000 for the three-doses required for each recipient – was a life-saver of sorts for the French firm. It spent $1.5 billion in 20 years to develop the vaccine, but had sold only $21 million, with the Philippines’ $70 million purchase giving it a financial boost, as well as the worldwide advertisement for it. Sanofi was racing against time, given that at least four other anti-dengue vaccines are being developed by competitors.

Aquino’s order to buy the Dengvaxia vaccines was given right after his December 1, 2015 meeting with top Sanofi officials, who included its CEO Olivier Charmeil in Paris, during a three-day visit there to attend the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference.

“I want this fast-tracked please,” Aquino reportedly told Garin as he stared intently at her, in hearing distance of Cabinet members who accompanied him and of the Sanofi officials, referring to the French firm’s lobbying for the purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccines. With Aquino in that meeting, aside from Garin, were finance secretary Cesar Purisima, Trade and Industry Gregory Domingo, Transportation Secretary Joseph Abaya, and officials of the Philippine embassy in Paris.

A press release by the Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) on that meeting reported: “Aquino had a business meeting on Tuesday with officials of Sanofi Pasteur for the introduction of a dengue vaccine in the Philippines as the French pharmaceutical company moves toward completing the clinical trials for the vaccine….”

Malacañang for Sanofi

The Malacañang statement was practically a press release for Sanofi’s product, gushing: “The vaccine had completed phase 3 (advanced, pre-product launch) clinical studies in 2014” and that it passed research phases in the Philippines, reflecting high levels of research competence and capability.” As it turned out, though, the World Health Organization had not cleared the vaccine, and clinical trials were still ongoing at that time.

Strangely, when Congress started investigating the controversy, Garin in effect claimed that Aquino’s information officials were lying: “It was not a meeting between Sanofi and President Aquino (but) the usual time where [sic]the president will allow himself to face the business community. The dengue vaccine issue was not discussed.”

Aquino had demonstrated extraordinary interest in the health department’s purchase of the Dengvaxia vaccine: It was the second time he met with the Sanofi officials.

He found time during the hectic APEC meeting in Beijing, China to meet with Sanofi officials, headed by the firm’s senior vice president for Asia Jean-luc Lowinski on Nov 9, 2014. The Sanofi officials were the only businessmen Aquino met with in Beijing. A press release by the Presidential Broadcast Staff reported at that time that Aquino discussed “Sanofi’s progress in developing a dengue vaccine for affected towns in the Philippines.”

Senator Richard Gordon, chairman of the Blue Ribbon Committee, when he was investigating the controversy last year pointed out the suspicious Dengvaxia purchase: “December 2, there was a meeting in Paris (between Aquino and the Sanofi executives); by December 22, the Food and Drug Administration approved the vaccine; by December 29, the Special Allotment Release Order for P3.5 billion was issued.” Talk of a midnight deal.

Gordon added: “The vaccine purchase was never budgeted by the health department in 2014, 2015, 2016 and also in 2017. They only requested it in November of 2015. The budget department found the money by declaring ‘savings’ from personnel salaries.”

This dengue vaccine corruption is of that sickening Yellow template: A noble cause is used to conceal graft of mammoth proportions. This case, though, could be the worst, as it has put the lives of our 700,000 mostly poor children on the line.

Sample comments in the Philippine Daily Inquirer online edition. The article is about House Speaker Alvarez advising Supreme Court Chief Justice Sereno to defend herself in the House Justice Committee IMPEACHMENT hearings rather than through mass media. Take note that most comments are made by accounts with FAKE NAMES and/or DUBIOUS bio pics. This PREDOMINANCE of YELLOW TROLLS established the general belief that the Philippine Daily Inquirer, among others, favored 2016 Presidential candidate Mar Roxas and DISCRIMINATED AGAINST then Davao City Mayor Duterte. The PERCEIVED BIAS continues to this day as Duterte supporters complain that MAINSTREAM MEDIA is UNFAIR and mostly HOSTILE to President Duterte in the manner of coverage, opinions and treatment of stories.

Leo• 36 minutes ago

Removing the president and the Chief Justice is through impeachment! How about the legislator’s? It is quite difficult to remove them as they are bonded together

Taga Maculot President Fentanyl• 11 minutes ago

Kase mas matatalino yun kesa sa kanila. They will not be able to put up against them. Covered ng nationwide tv broadcast, e di mapapahiya sila.

Danilo Puyat• 19 minutes ago

Only a masochist will want to march into a kangaroo court full of Duterte buffoons and fair weather trapos.

This impeachment case was based on hearsays and allegations that changes scripts on daily basis. These dotards wont do this sinakulo without the blessing of the criminal in Malakanyang.

CJ Sereno, nothing in the law compels you to do what Alvarez wants you to do. Besides, highly likely they have already made their decision even before you can utter any words before them. They are the Lower House, indeed.

doubting tomas• 21 minutes ago

The Inquisition AKA House Committee.

EQUALIZERS• 3 minutes ago

I HAVE TONGRESS!

WarDaddy• 4 minutes ago

Hi Croc! =)

Kingkong Digong• 7 minutes ago

Why should the CJ attend this kangaroo court whose intention is shaming her. Send the complaint to the senate and let the filipino see that those members of congress who voted to impeach her have no basis at all. Or are they afraid to pass it to the senate thats why they are prolonging it.

magiting• 8 minutes ago

They have 3 equal branches in the government,but they don”t respect each other,,,that”s Philippine politics !…

SalesDOMNicoleTonetteTAMUD• 10 minutes ago

Absolutely witchhuntinhmg. This country is going to Duterte dogs ang kapppppalllll

Oo nga naman, madam. Why don’t you attend and defend. The truth shall set you free. Unless, of course, the truth hurts. Hehehehehehe…

Taga Maculot• 24 minutes ago

Alvarez has been throwing punches against duterte’s critics most of the time mimicking his boss’ penchant to spew invectives as if it is his privilege to do such. He likes to file a bill that is viewed as self serving as he will be the number 1 beneficiary to it. He feels he is bigger than himself. With de lima’s marital status he attacked her personal life as if he’s spotlessly clean. He si too quick to judge forgetring about John 8:7 ” Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her”

Once again he opens his mouth and once again the public gets nauseated.

Country Above Self Zaldy Tan• 21 minutes ago

And he’s the “Speaker” of the House. I guess well just have to endure nausea until the voters of the 1st District of Davao del Norte smartens up and elect a better representative.

Orlando Padrid• 33 minutes ago

The “OUSTER CLAN”of the speaker and gaydon et al are shouting to high heavens that the CJ resign her position or face impeachment.
The CJ wanted to face the impeachment head on causing the clan indescribable nightmares…
To the ouster clan,money does not only TALK ,it SHOUTS!!!!!!!!

Tomas Hocson• 33 minutes ago

Yes, attend the hearings so that the people may find out about your sex life

What’s the use of defending herself in congress? She was already pre-judged as guilty by the Justice committee headed by Umali!

Taga Maculot• 42 minutes ago

Nobody can tell Sereno to attend the hearing conducted by the clowns of Congress. For what? To be ridiculed and expose herself to questioning by the pretenders and emb_c_les in the House. Nobody will win against all odds, against the cabal of darkness. Feeling your power now, time will come that you can be likened to the fleas in a dog’s skin..feeding from the dog’s blood..and .once the dog dies, one by one you will fall off decimated and powerless scampering to look for another dog to suck!!

maylah1969• 43 minutes ago

If they have any shame at all, people don’t listen to their arguments anymore, lost their sense of righteousness. I would listen to the Chief Justice all day, in fact I always rewind the video, watch and listen to her talks over and over again. I dont pay attention to these jackals whose agenda is not for the people, but for their selfish ends.

In an Instagram post with the words, “she’s a Queen with a little bit of savage,” Kris, the youngest of the Aquino siblings, said she would be ready to do anything for her Ate Ballsy, including putting herself in danger to protect her favorite sister, who showed her affection without any limitations.

Kris, sister of former President Benigno Aquino III, also said the allegations being hurled against Eldon were all false and baseless.

“This is a simple, CLEAR & REAL message. In our family, I love my siblings. BUT i believe it is obvious- my Ate is my FAVORITE,” Kris said.

“It’s not a secret i was disowned, but when i gave birth to Kuya Josh she was my 1 sibling who was there in the hospital. That’s just how she is- she has loved me unconditionally. No judgment, just a reassurance that i’d never be alone because she always believed i’d manage to right my life’s wrongs- that is FAITH,” she said.

“So this is me saying – HURT HER by spreading more unfounded lies about her & her husband and you will really push me to my very worst. I mean it when i say for my Ate i will take a bullet. Or worse, make the worst nightmare of all Aquino haters come true,” added Kris.

Earlier, Eldon and Ballsy’s son, Justin Benigno “Jiggy” Aquino Cruz, took up the cudgels for his father, saying the claims made by a Department of Justice (DOJ) witness against Eldon were “absurd and ridiculous.”

During a press briefing last Monday, DOJ Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II presented to media witness Roberto Catapang Jr., who claimed to have been a part of a syndicate whose supposed modus operandi was to submit fake titles to secure payment in exchange for landholdings that would be used for government road right of way projects.

After being prodded by Aguirre, Catapang, presented to reporters a Jan. 12, 2011 letter that Cruz purportedly signed and sent to then Department of Public Works and Highways chief Rogelio “Babes” Singson seeking the release of payment for alleged fake road right-of-way claims.

But Jiggy denied that the signature in the letter shown by Catapang was that of Eldon.

“To tag my father in this ‘scam’ is absurd and ridiculous. The letter shown today at the DOJ shows a fake signature. That’s not his signature. It is not even remotely close to it,” Jiggy said Monday.

************

Kris defends ‘Ate’ Ballsy, threatens ‘Aquino haters’

By Rosette Adel(philstar.com) November 29, 2017

MANILA, Philippines — Queen of all media Kris Aquino on Tuesday took to social media to defend her eldest sister Ballsy Aquino-Cruz after being implicated in a multibillion-peso road right-of-way scam.

In a lengthy Instagram post with a photo of quote “she’s a Queen with a little bit of savage,” Kris said Ballsy is her favorite sibling.

Kris narrated how she got disowned when she was pregnant with her first child Josh, and her eldest sister was the only sibling who was there with her in the hospital when she gave birth to Josh.

“That’s just how she is- she has loved me unconditionally. No judgment, just a reassurance that I’d never be alone because she always believed I’d manage to right my life’s wrongs- that is FAITH,” Kris wrote.

Kris Aquino Statement: This is a simple, CLEAR & REAL message. In our family, I love my siblings. BUT i believe it is obvious- my Ate is my FAVORITE. By Ate i mean our eldest, we only have 1 Ate, everyone else is first name basis only… i could go into a super long story, but this is just an example of my life’s truth- come what may, even at my worst- she still loved me. It’s not a secret i was disowned, but when i gave birth to Kuya Josh she was my 1 sibling who was there in the hospital. That’s just how she is- she has loved me unconditionally. No judgment, just a reassurance that i’d never be alone because she always believed i’d manage to right my life’s wrongs- that is FAITH. So this is me saying- HURT HER by spreading more unfounded lies about her & her husband and you will really push me to my very worst. I mean it when i say for my Ate i will take a bullet. Or worse, make the worst nightmare of all Aquino haters come true… P.S. Politics aside, like this if you’re like me & you LOVE your Ate.

Kris then said she would “take a bullet” for Ballsy amid the allegations linking her eldest sister and brother-in-law, Eldon Cruz in a road right-of-way scam.

“So this is me saying- HURT HER by spreading more unfounded lies about her & her husband and you will really push me to my very worst,” the actress-host said.

“I mean it when I say for my Ate I will take a bullet. Or worse, make the worst nightmare of all Aquino haters come true,” she added.

Kris noted that her Instagram post is a “simple, clear, and real” message vouching for her family.

On Monday, Ballsy and Eldon were tagged in an P8.7 billion road right-of-way scam after whistleblower Roberto Catapang Jr. showed to the media a letter supposedly signed by Eldon endorsing one of the projects secured through fake land titles.

Ballsy and Eldon’s son, Jiggy Cruz, however defended his father and said allegation that Eldon is involved in the anomaly is “absurd and ridiculous.”

He said that the letter presented by the Department of Justice at a press conference on Monday shows a fake signature.

*****************

Kris Aquino ready to unleash her fury if Ballsy Cruz gets hurt

Kris Aquino has a stern warning against those spreading lies against Ballsy Aquino-Cruz’s family in her recent Instagram post.

Ballsy, the eldest daughter of Ninoy and Cory Aquino, is in the midst of a controversy after husband Eldon Cruz was implicated in a PHP 8.7 billion right-of-way scam involving the construction of a national national highway in General Santos City.

The celebrity mom poured her heart out on social media. She shared how her Ate Ballsy was there during the most difficult time of her life.

Kris posted, “This is a simple, CLEAR & REAL message. In our family, I love my siblings. BUT i believe it is obvious- my Ate is my FAVORITE. By Ate i mean our eldest, we only have 1 Ate, everyone else is first name basis only… i could go into a super long story, but this is just an example of my life’s truth- come what may, even at my worst- she still loved me. It’s not a secret i was disowned, but when i gave birth to Kuya Josh she was my 1 sibling who was there in the hospital.”

“That’s just how she is- she has loved me unconditionally. No judgment, just a reassurance that i’d never be alone because she always believed i’d manage to right my life’s wrongs- that is FAITH.”

Kris also stressed that if her Ate Ballsy gets hurt, this will really push her to her limits.

“So this is me saying- HURT HER by spreading more unfounded lies about her & her husband and you will really push me to my very worst. I mean it when i say for my Ate i will take a bullet. Or worse, make the worst nightmare of all Aquino haters come true… P.S. Politics aside, like this if you’re like me & you LOVE your Ate.”